Seagate started shipping its GoFlex Thunderbolt Adapter accessory. The gadget lets you connect a SATA drive (HDD or SSD) to a host machine over 10 Gbps Thunderbolt interface, completely eliminating any bottleneck (USB 3.0 bottlenecks SATA 6 Gb/s). It works by simply sliding and locking in a SATA device to its industry-standard SATA power+data interface, and plugging the adapter to the host using a Thunderbolt cable. The Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt Adapter is priced at US $99.99.

That's just ridiculously expensive, considering you'll also need the GoFlex HDD itself.
For that money, you can buy a 1TB hard drive and a case/dock combo that gives you full Sata speed when docked and eSata or USB3 on the go.

Well, yes the connector is the same. But it looks like the HDD needs to be the correct shape, too, or won't sit flush against the Thunderbolt adapter.
Anyways, if you're using eSata drives already, it's very likely that you don't have thunderbolt on your PC.

Well, yes the connector is the same. But it looks like the HDD needs to be the correct shape, too, or won't sit flush against the Thunderbolt adapter.
Anyways, if you're using eSata drives already, it's very likely that you don't have thunderbolt on your PC.

Click to expand...

Any 3.5", 2.5", or 1.8" HDD can be slotted in like an NES cartridge, and it will work just fine.

But i have 4x 1tb goflex drives that I swap a FW800 adaptor out with sometimes. Thunderbolt addition just makes me even more glad I went with goflex devices. Bravo seagate. It's really nice to see a "form factor" made by someone isn't just abandoned a year after its introduction.

Ducky Year of the Snake w/ Cherry MX Browns & Year of the Tiger PBT Keycaps | Razer Deathadder Black

GoFlex adapters are NOT standard SATA connectors on these adapters! With a little modification, they can be, though.

Note the extra bumps on either edge of the top and bottom of the SATA connector. If you shave those off, it will work with any SATA drive. Without removing them, any SATA HDD with a plastic shroud around the actual connectors (most drive that I've seen) will not fit. Let's hope Seagate hasn't gone to using metal or something not as easily removed as the plastic they've used in the past.

Also, this specific adapter is meant for their portable GoFlex 2.5" drives.

Ok... Technology seems nice............. and expensive... But, how on earth will a Seagate GoFlex maximize the use of Thunderbolt? Am I missing something here? Even the fastest SSD won't be able to fully saturate 6Gbps... How much more for a damn low RPM mobile mechanical HDD???

Ok... Technology seems nice............. and expensive... But, how on earth will a Seagate GoFlex maximize the use of Thunderbolt? Am I missing something here? Even the fastest SSD won't be able to fully saturate 6Gbps... How much more for a damn low RPM mobile mechanical HDD???

Click to expand...

Unlike USB you can daisy chain thunderbolt devices like firewire, and send video output across. SO you can have a single cable that looks like this:

Laptop-> HDD1-> HDD2-> HDD3-> Random peripheral-> Monitor
-> Power

Super simplified docking station.

Also, Macbook pro's won't have USB 3 until ivy bridge launches(Since its going from a third party chipset to integrated), most likely, so its a faster than usb 2.0 option for mac users. USB 2 is worthless.